Beth Whitaker

Beth Whitaker is Associate Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in New York. She has been with Signature since 1999, first as literary manager and production dramaturg, then as associate artistic director since 2006. She was part of creating and implementing new artistic programs for Signature’s three-theatre complex on 42nd Street, the Pershing Square Signature Center, which opened in January 2012. At the Center, she collaborates on season planning and oversees all artistic programming, including 8 productions annually and a full complement of supplemental events. She has worked with Signature Playwrights-in-Residence including Lee Blessing, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Horton Foote, Maria Irene Fornes, Athol Fugard, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, Katori Hall, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Naomi Wallace, and Lanford Wilson.

Previous positions include Literary Manager for Tectonic Theater Project, Artistic Associate for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Literary Manager for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Literary Associate for the Alliance Theatre Company in Atlanta.

She has been a guest speaker at Columbia University, NYU, Southern Methodist University, Fordham University, Yale School of Drama, Marymount Manhattan College, UMass Amherst, and Trinity College, and has served as a panelist or reader for the New Harmony Project, The Wasserstein Prize, The Weissberger Award, Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, Theatre Communications Group, and other new play development and theatre grant programs.

She has a BFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University and an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University.